Scared to go into the hospital

Are you scheduled? When is it?

Don't worry about it. Simple procedure. I don't even remember mine (due to the drugs) other than the prep the night before.

R1 yes this week.

Not so worried about the procedure.....just convinced they'll find something.

And mad at myself for not doing anything sooner bc of Covid.

R4 It's good that you're having the colonoscopy then. If they find something, it can be taken care of before it becomes serious.

Get it done. Do you want to wait another ten years with a possible cancer that spreads to the incurable point?

I had one once, and they gave me a print out of some of the photos.

I don't know if they expected me to frame them and put them on the mantelpiece?

I got the souvenir photos once as well, R7. It struck me as a curious thing even still under the fog of anaesthesia. Later it seemed weirder. Maybe they thought it would be a good cover story for some demonic Rosemary's Baby sort of gangbang they performed and just gave me pics of someone else's guts thinking I would never know the difference?

That lot also like to advise you on your colon cleanliness: I heard the going around giving thumbs up for "squeaky clean" and a slight hint of disapproval for those who were "not perfectly clean," all in the tone of a cheery/scoldy dental hygienist. "Better next time, then!"

R7 That's standard as part of the procedure. I got photos, too. I also got a photo of my appendix after it was removed.

I had a colonoscopy in 2019. I had no polyps- I eat a very high fiber diet.

How old are you, OP?

I had my first recently. I should have done it long ago, but dreaded it and feared a bad result, like you. They found one 7 mm polyp, which they removed and sent out for biopsy. Had to wait about a week for result. It seemed like an eternity. Came back non cancerous, but they detected some “precancerous “ cells, whatever that means. Said I will be scheduled for another colonoscopy in 5 years. Good for getting the proper test vs. the poop in a box thing. If they find any polyps they will be removed immediately.

I feel kind of cheated I got no souvenir photo with mine.

r11 52. I hit 50 during the initial throes of COVID so there was a long stretch I couldn't schedule it anyway, but then I spent most of 2022 trying to get a GI doc to see me.

R13 You're going to be fine, in that case. You're still in your prime.

The good news is that you'll have a nice sleep through it all.

OP, it's totally painless and you won't even be able to tell that you just had a camera up your coinslot. Nothing to be worried about at all.

I hate all the medical prevention I have to do as I age. But I do it despite the fear. I think that means I have courage. I too am much more concerned with results rather than the inconvenience and potential discomfort. I play forward worst scenarios. But I grit my teeth and tell myself I’m doing the right thing.

I've been working on getting mine scheduled too. I get mine every 5 years because of family history. I would have been due to for it in 2021, but because of Covid that didn't happen. Just need to pick up the script and schedule it.

The prep is the worse part. The procedure itself is nothing. Yep, we have to deal with this stuff as we get older, and it's best to keep on top of things before any conditions get worse.

good luck - hope they find the big stick up there!

I had my first one a month ago. The prep sucks but the procedure is a breeze. It tastes like very salty Gatorade. I came very close to vomiting it up a few times. They let you know as soon as you wake up if they found anything troubling. I was just fine. You will be, too.

Do you have any vinyl records? I'll take those.

R20 I have about a thousand. Can't deliver but swing on by and get 'em!

I had my first colonoscopy in 2020 after being hospitalized for diverticulitis. I was afraid of being sedated, but the nurses were sweethearts and it was over in a flash. Plus my doctor was hot.

The stuff they’re after OP is the current crop of polyps you have growing just past your 2nd sphincter. I’m sure it’s bountiful harvest, but you probably won’t feel much still. Don’t be afraid.

I also at some point have to go in for a penis scope, whatever that is properly called. That will be also not fun and very uncomfortable : (

Just to give you a bit of schadenfreude, OP, I was given the opportunity to do Cologuard instead of a full blown flashlight up my rectum. I still couldn’t shit in a box and be okay with it.

I get the mental block/indecision. You do yours and help me do mine.

Aww, OP. Keep us posted on this. You're doing a good thing by getting the colonoscopy. Sounds like you're concerned about what they'll see with the scope. Understandable.

PS If anyone thinks about doing Cologuard, check with your insurance first OR pay for Cologuard out of pocket.

Why?

Cologuard ain't cheap (700-1000) BUT if you have something turn up and you have to get a colonoscopy, then insurance often says "well, we paid for Cologuard, we'll pay for one test but not both." So it's a choice between paying out of pocket for Cologuard, vs paying out of pocket for a colonoscopy which is WAY more expensive (over 5-6K usually).

I appreciate everyone's replies.

Please get a colonoscopy or any screening test ASAP.

I have worries beyond the test itself. I really believe I either have cancer or some other issues that will require surgery, which I am not sure I would survive. It sounds very scaredycat-ish, I know, and very MARY! but I have reasons for concern (too complex to list here).

The pandemic made me delay important testing/care and then I had to wait a year to get a proper colonoscopy (this is my THIRD attempt at a GI doc and a colonoscopy - it's been awful) due to shortages and incompetence.

Please remember to be your own advocate for your health. If something isn't sitting right, say something about it. Ask questions. If you're not getting answers, move on and get a second or third opinion. Being nice will not win us any awards when/if we're six feet under or in an urn.

May you all be healthy and have all the love and support you need.

R28 Why do you believe you have cancer? Are you experiencing pain or other unusual symptoms, or is it just your mind messing with you?

FFS, just don't get hard while they are playing with and then inserting something into your hole OP.

This OP always posts like she's on Twitter with ADHD.

Just another Thread Proliferator OP.

[quote] Why do you believe you have cancer?

Pain that's in my lymph nodes on my sides, as well as some urological issues.

I hope I'm wrong. But I've waited a while for this testing and tried to get into a place of acceptance for whatever happens.

[quote] Just another Thread Proliferator OP.

I do start a fair number of threads if I see an interesting news link. Sorry that chaps your ass.

Ive heard colonoscopy can be done with no anesthesia ; has anyone here done colonoscopy or endoscopy with no anesthesia? I want to do it with no anesthesia.

do not think that they may find something, think about how happy you will be when it's over and they didn't find anything.

R34 You're definitely gonna want anesthesia for a colonoscopy.

I had a sigmoidoscopy once, which is done without anesthesia, and it's some of the worst pain I've ever felt.

Pfft. Don't be afraid of the outcomes. I'm sure 75% of the bottoms on this site could do it, without anesthesia, and while moaning "unh dadddddy!"

Lay back and enjoy it. It's for your health.

Just do it. Cancer ain't no fun. finding out you don't have it is great.

I have UC so I'm scoped annually (COVID or no COVID) because polyps can become cancerous and in the absence of a flare-up, it lets the gastroenterologist see if the meds you're taking are working. Some years he finds something to remove and biopsy; some years he doesn't. The prep is the worst part. The not eating for a day and a half doesn't bother me (your choice of beef broth or non-red popsicles is not eating) as much as downing the half-gallon of laxative used to blow out the crap, a product inaccurately named "Golightly" - you go hard and often until you can't go any more. The anesthesia is a mild "twilight" version of Fentanyl, Valium, Ketamine, or Midazolam, usually causing short-term amnesia. You won't remember a thing and just as well.

Most years my doc wants an endoscopy (camera down the throat into the stomach) immediately after the colonoscopy. No additional prep, and it's nice to know they look at everything.

Good luck, OP. Come back when it's over and let us know how it went.

Thank you R39.

I was given 2 different prep kits (long story - two different doctors) one was Plenvu and the other SuPrep and from everything I've read/heard Suprep is the lesser of 2 evils so that's my poison tomorrow, procedure Thursday....haven't eaten solid food since 11 am yesterday. Having an Ensure Clear right now which kinda isn't terrible, just tastes like Kool-aid.

Hopefully the prep works and I completely BLOW IT OUT MY ASS before the actual procedure, because I don't want to fail and have to try again.

Thanks for the details! It is better to know and understand it better.

Don’t forget to light a candle in the bathroom, OP 🕯️💩

You’ll be farting and making doo doos all night long OP.

Don't worry, she managed her hospital stay too

I had a colonoscopy last month and the doctor said that my colon was a “role model” among colons.

And I pretty much eat garbage.

One of the best moments of my life was the dawning twilight sleep before my first colonoscopy. I’ve had another since. They found polyps both times. No big whoop. I just have to get the next one sooner.

What about people who have trouble getting up after anesthesia? A colonoscopy shouldn’t use as much as a procedure so perhaps the people who struggle to wake up will have an easier go? Good luck OP

Op, don’t stress. We’re the same age & I had my first test last year. My grandma died from colon cancer which developed around age 75. Is done the fecal occult test 2 yrs prior, clean, but last year’s came back with some blood detected.

They found 3 polyps, 3, 5, 7mm, none cancerous.

It’s great you’re doing it now so you can rest easier later. I have to go back in 2 yrs because of the polyps & am actually looking forward to the test. The prep is painless, as is the test itself—and I was awake through a lot of it. I even told the nurse how many polyps were found & their sizes—he was shocked I’d been so alert.

My sister who’s a year younger & eats like shit had the “beginnings” of a polyp & has to do it in 10 yrs. She gets regular mammograms & each time has to redo them; in the interim she says she knows they found a tumor, which hasn’t ever happened. I don’t get why people go all doomsday with medical procedures…

I used my pictures for Christmas cards.

This colonoscopy has everything: Balenciaga IV bags, Winnie the Poo scrubs, “Scat” Man Crothers serenading you off into the twilight, and a Voopoo doctor…you know, that thing where your proctologist is a voodoo practitioner.

Get ready to shit your brains out OP. And don’t fart in the doctors face like I did. He didn’t appreciate that.

You'll love Demerol and Versed. I hope everything is ok.

I had my first in February 2020, right before the pandemic shut everything down. Thankfully, all was good and I don’t have to have another until I’m 60. The procedure was fine…loved that peaceful being knocked out thing. Did NOT like the prep. The first round of cranberry flavored stuff was fine, but I could barely get down the final one before the procedure. Told my doctor they better come up with something better before my next one!

Just did round one of prep. Tastes like flat Sprite and...MSG or something? Ugh.

Is it better to not use the flavoring?

././././.

Well, it's go time in about 12 hours. Trying to be positive.

You will be just fine, OP.

Happy to hear you’re following through & getting diagnostic testing.

Take videos of you shitting, OP. Only fans loves that shit.

It's a nothing procedure. I've had it many times. You will be fine. The only unpleasant aspect is the bowel prep. You need to schedule in a few hours to shit your guts out.

R40 said (on Tuesday) "so that's my poison tomorrow, procedure Thursday....haven't eaten solid food since 11 am yesterday."

Now it's Friday. Have you been eating ravenously since they finished yesterday such that you haven't had a moment to tell us how it went? Swimmingly, we hope.

I'm taking my husband to see the gastroenterologist in her office this afternoon so she can schedule his colonoscopy for a date in March. He's overdue and anxious, too. Any tips to share?

Do it for the propofol nap—you’ll wake up in 20 minutes feeling like you’ve had a great night’s sleep!

Hi all, OP here. Thanks for the kind comments (and even for the cunty ones).

I had the procedure done yesterday. As everyone says, the prep is the worst part. I could only take part of the second part of prep because it was really painful as it went through. But apparently all was OK, the colonoscopy was done.

(I want it noted that my tech looked kinda like Paul Rudd and had a chest and biceps for DAYS.)

Anyway, they found a few polyps. Small ones, removed, but I'll know more in a week or so as to whether they were cancerous.

I did not eat ravenously.....part of the reason I had this test was because for the last year or so I've been having pain after meals and especially at night. This test ruled out a lot of possibilities (Crohn's, colitis, IBD) but takes us back to exploring the initial thought - that somehow, when I had my gallbladder removed years ago, some parts of the bile duct are still in place or something in that area/region is swollen or acting incorrectly.

More than anyone wanted to know, I'm sure. But again, thanks for talking me off the ledge.

OP If there is a bile duct problem, especially as a consequence of cholecystectomy, you should see an experienced biliary surgeon. Years ago I worked for one considered among the best in the world for pancreatic and bile duct surgery. He spent a lot of time in the OR salvaging patients whose GI function had been effed up by mistakes during the original surgery. The first surgeon was often who sent them to him because more often than not, he could fix it and save the first doc's ass from a malpractice suit.

If that's the case, it's not a common procedure so you want someone who does it all the time, not once in a while. Your bile ducts are like spaghetti and easy to nick or sever during gallbladder surgery so while it's not common (and less so because now most cholecystectomies are done by laparoscopic surgery) it's still an issue that is sometimes hard to diagnosis and difficult to treat.

R63 THANK YOU

That might just be the most helpful comment (for me) ever on the DL.

Based on the site of pain and swelling, it seems that it's either related to that or the Sphincter of Oddi - which is apparently something that can malfunction or become an issue. I had no idea there was a specific biliary surgeon.

Slated to see a liver doc in a few weeks post colonoscopy so hopefully I can find out more then.

OP, please be perforated and ganrenous by now.

R65 I probably am, doll. I fully expect to one day walk down the street and just explode into gristle and stubble!

THERE'S where my wallet and keys are!

Well, they found some worrying stuff. A few polyps and on a separate CT an enlarged liver. More testing.

R70 Your stuff, can I have it?

R71 Yoda?

They're sending me back in for an endoscopy.

And ultrasound.

Ugh.

HAd my second one yesterday (5 year screening). The prep was fine all day Sunday, and the procedure was less than twenty minutes. EVERYONE OVER 45 should be having this done every five years (or as needed). It's simple and can be life-saving.

Too bad Liz Montgomery never went for hers.

How long do you have to wait until those tests OP?

(Wishing you all the best and hope you are feeling better soon.)

Luckily only a few weeks, ElderLez.

But I waited almost a year from when the original pain/issues started - not willingly but because my local health system is incompetent. Now I'm going about an hour away for care. Hoping it's not too late to resolve whatever the issue is.

R73, my GI does my colonoscopy and my endoscopy at the same time.

Was the TTE the ultrasound?

My GI also ordered an Abdominal/Pelvic CT scan. Found expanded nodes around my pancreas.

After six months of my treatment plan, the nodes returned to normal.

R77 That's what I expected, that they would do both at the same time, and was surprised when they did not.

As far as I know the ultrasound will be of my liver. (He's a Gi/liver specialist.)

Who wants my stuff? Back in tomorrow.

You are going to need to keep your stuff OP.

Good luck today. I was thinking of you yesterday and should have posted.

We’ll all be looking for an update later.

Thank you ElderLez.

I am very grateful for the good wishes. ❤️

Back home.

Gastritis and a few benign polyps...good news in some ways but still no explanation for my abdominal pain.

Thanks for talking me down off the ledge!

Do they have any thoughts about what is causing the gastritis?

They didn't tell me today - they said "mild gastritis" and a nurse says it's usually diet. I think it might be h pylori or the like - but I have to wait a week or so for the follow up.

Do you still have your appendix OP? Is it possible that you have chronic sub-acute appendicitis if it isn’t a bile duct problem?

That gall bladder cancer is really sneaky and almost always quickly fatal, OP.

The part about having to vomit your waste in the last month is just awful.

R86 Thanks, Erna.

There is a killer fungus in american hospitals now, i wouldnt be as scared of the procedure as of the fungus.

ElderLez - I do still have my appendix. I've had pain in various spots/intensities since my gall bladder removal and one of the unusual things is I never am nauseous or vomiting and never run a fever or have chills. So all the suggestions where they worry I'd have appendicitis or any kind of sepsis, they seem to rule out immediately.

For the pain near my gallbllader site I really think it may be a bile duct issue or similar, but the weird swelling on both sides of my abdomen is a mystery (that gastritis may or may not explain).

I never had fever when I had appendicitis which complicated getting it diagnosed, but I was vomiting bile so there’s that. Do you think they left staples or other hardware in from your surgery and they are floating around. Did they x-ray to look for that.

sending you a virtual bowl of pastina.

I'm sorry if I missed it - did they have you do an h. Pylori breath test yet? I did that (it's a half hour test, you have to breath into something twice, with a half hour separation), and the lab results came back in 3 days (negative).

[quote] Do you think they left staples or other hardware in from your surgery and they are floating around

I *have* thought that, thought they did it laproscopically (sp) and asked about it - has never come up in an xray or CT/MRI.

R91 They didn't but supposedly that was part of what they'll test for in the biopsy from the endoscopy.

How are you doing OP?

OP are you OK?

I didn't get around to my first colonoscopy until age 62. You drink their prep drinks the day before, then they give you a sedative which puts you in a light to moderate sedation, and before you realize it it's over and you're awake. No biggie. My results were that I was clean as a whistle. Even if they find a polyp or two, it's a minor thing and they manage it quickly. A colonoscopy is one of the best preventive procedures to catch any cancel cells at an early stage.

Joining ElderLez in wanting to know if you're okay, OP....

Paging OP/R92

Hi Elderlez!

I just happened to see this because it's at the top of the list of threads. Yes, I am OK.

As it turned out, I was diagnosed with NASH - what I thought was solely GI turned out to be a liver issue. And some of it is related to my gallbladder removal from 2013, which never did heal correctly.

I also had mild gastritis and diverticulosis (but not -itis). In the follow up appt. the doctor said he thinks my gastritis was caused by me taking my daily aspirin. So I had to stop that.

Thanks to those checking in! You like me, you really like me!

Good to hear you're doing okay. If you feel you need to take aspirin, is it for heart health? If so, you can probably do what I do, take a baby aspirin (81mg) just three times a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday). My cardiologist recommended I take this dosage as it works almost as good as taking it daily without the digestive side effects or excessive blood thinning.

NASH is a serious diagnosis R98, but I am so glad you responded and have gotten a proper diagnosis. Wishing you all the best and no progression.